Time Warner Cable celebrates merger approval by raising prices

Happy New Year, Time Warner Cable subscribers! Your favorite cable provider just got approval from New York state regulators to merge with fellow cable company Charter and it’s going to celebrate by raising your prices… again! As The Albany Times Union reports, TWC “is raising its Internet and TV rates for customers in New York state just a 10 days after getting approval” for its merger with Charter, which has a reputation for being less pricey than other cable companies. It seems that this isn’t preventing TWC from raising prices in the near-term, however.

“Changes in your bill are mainly driven by the increase we must pay to deliver your favorite channels,” the company explained in a letter to subscribers.

While it’s easy to bash TWC here, it’s likely telling the truth when it says it needs to raise prices to cover the costs of your favorite channels. As we’ve seen recently, Comcast has been trying to cut down on its massive cable bundle packages to offer subscribers a broader array of cheaper packages, only to face the anger of content providers who want subscribers to keep signing up for $100 packages now and forever.

These studios seem to have problems understanding the laws of supply and demand, however. Cable TV prices have been increasing at three times the rate of inflation for years and at some point people just won’t want to pay more, especially when there are cheaper alternatives like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime out there. The fact that content providers still think they can get away with massive prices increases on a regular basis just shows they’re even more out of touch that I ever imagined.